Wisconsin Advanced Technology Advocates, Inc.

Quincy Bioscience awarded patent on jellyfish protein

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: July 8, 2010 9:10 a.m.

Quincy Bioscience said it has received a patent on its use of a protein derived from jellyfish that it uses for products to fight the aging process.

The patent covers the use of aequorin-related compounds for preventing and alleviating symptoms and disorders related to calcium imbalance, Mark Underwood, the Madison biotech company's president, said in a statement.

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Mequon firm seeks to put the brakes on cancer cells

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: July 1, 2010

James Yarger, who owns a drug development company in Mequon, had an idea brewing in his head for some time.

If cancer cells are regular cells run amok - cells with failed brakes, as it were - there must be a way to fix those brakes.

With help from $12 million of investor funding and a $250,000 loan from the state's Technology Venture Fund, Yarger thinks he has figured it out.

His young company, Endece LLC, is prepared to begin clinical trials next year on a compound he says could potentially turn off any kind of cancer cell.

"We can stop any cancer from replicating. The cell is trying to replicate and essentially tearing itself apart because of the blocks we put in place," said Yarger, 58.

Yarger with his wife, Jean, started Endece four years ago. The company has a staff of five.

The compound Endece will bring into clinical trials, called NDC-1308, is one of more than 40 the company has developed. In animal trials, it has shown the ability to stop a tumor's chromosomes from replicating and to inhibit the so-called hedgehog signaling pathway that is present in many aggressive tumors.

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Cellular Dynamics, Promega to collaborate on tests

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: June 15, 2010 10:08 a.m.

Cellular Dynamics International and Promega Corp. have entered into a research collaboration to develop toxicity tests for drug developers that use stem-cell derived heart cells.

The companies, both based in Madison, said the collaboration has potential to provide pharmaceutical company researchers with more predictive data, driving the development of safer and more effective drugs.

Their tests would use an alternative to embryonic stem cells known as iPS, or induced pluripotent stem cells that are made by Cellular Dynamics. To make iPS cells, Cellular Dynamics scientists take tissue cells, for example, and engineer them into cells that have all the characteristics of embryonic stem cells and are able to turn into beating heart cells, liver cells or any other cells in the body.

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WARF loses a round in stem cell patent dispute

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: May 3, 2010 11:50 a.m.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has suffered a blow in its effort to protect a key patent for embryonic stem cell technology.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week reversed an earlier decision in which it rejected an appeal on one of three basic human embryonic stem cell patents held by the foundation, known as WARF.

The patent in question covers early work done by University of Wisconsin - Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson. The patent office said it now agrees with the argument made by two foundations that Thomson's work covered by the single patent could have been performed by other scientists with access to the same resources.

The rejection does not affect a decision the patent office made in early 2008 to uphold two other basic embryonic stem cell patents held by WARF.

"WARF has been invited by the Board of Patent Appeals to continue prosecution of this application and plans to do so and vigorously pursue these claims with the patent office," the foundation said in a statement.

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Platypus wins contract to develop sensor

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Jan. 5, 2010

A $2.2 million contract with a U.S. Army research center could bring a Madison company one step closer to its goal of making a portable sensor that detects deadly gases and other toxins.

Platypus Technologies LLC said it has been awarded a one-year contract with Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center in Maryland, the second it has received from the center.

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Innovation leads the way for Prodesse's big payday

Biotech firm's investors listened to customers, changed the business and increased value

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Oct. 7, 2009

Shortly after Tom Shannon invested in and began running Prodesse Inc., he realized no one wanted to buy the Waukesha biotech company's labor-intensive flu tests.

Instead of abandoning Prodesse, Shannon decided to take it in a new direction.

The fruits of that decision were apparent this week when San-Diego-based Gen-Probe Inc. said it would acquire privately held Prodesse for $60 million. That price could rise as high as $85 million if certain milestones are met in 2010 and 2011.

"Prodesse is a great success story for the state because it beat all the big companies by being first to market with a highly accurate, molecular diagnostic flu test," said Kevin Conroy, president and chief executive officer of Madison-based Exact Sciences Corp. and a Prodesse director.

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Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation settles suit against Intel

Madison — The University of Wisconsin-Madison's patenting arm has settled its infringement lawsuit against computer chipmaker Intel Corp. involving technology used in a popular computer processor.

The case was expected to go to trial Monday in U.S. District Court in Madison, but both sides notified the court Friday they had reached a settlement. Details were not released, and Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said he could not comment because the terms were confidential.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation sued Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel in February 2008, alleging that technology used in Intel's Core 2 Duo Processor and others was created by university researchers but used by Intel without a licensing agreement.

The lawsuit claimed the micro-architecture of the Intel Core family of processors infringed on a 1998 patent based on work by four researchers, including Gurindar Sohi, a computer science professor. Intel had supported Sohi's research with about $90,000 in gifts in the 1990s and argued it was entitled to the intellectual property that resulted from the funding.

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National Cancer Institute awards Stratatech $1.7 million grant

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

osted: Sept. 30, 2009

Stratatech Corp. said Wednesday it has been awarded a $1.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute.

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Promega meeting to draw 600 forensic experts

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Sept. 21, 2009 11:36 a.m.

More than 600 forensic experts from around the world will gather in Las Vegas in October to attend a symposium put on by Madison-based Promega Corp.

The company's 20th International Symposium on Human Identification will highlight advances in DNA technology and explore controversial issues related to the expanded use of DNA typing. An "interesting cases" session that features cases that benefitted from DNA analysis, including a cold case solved after 30 years with evidence from the victim's fingernails and a case where a sniffer dog led police to the wrong suspect.

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Quintessence Biosciences receives $986,000 research grant

By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Sept. 3, 2009

A Madison drug development company said Thursday it has received a $986,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer Institute.

Quintessence Biosciences Inc. will use the money to support development of more drugs based on its Evade Ribonuclease technology, the company said.

Ribonuclease is a protein that chews up RNA, the long strands of material that transmit messages for cells. The company's technology aims to kill cancer cells by destroying the link between their DNA and protein.

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